NEWS

Men’s Pair Final Set at U.S. Olympic Trials II

by
Sarah Marshall, smarshall@usrowing.org | Jun 21, 2016

After three days of racing, finals are now set for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials II - Rowing. Wednesday morning's results will determine which crew will represent the U.S. at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in the men’s pair event, pending USOC approval.

WEST WINDSOR, N.J. - For two-time Olympian Will Daly (Vail, Colo.), the stresses of trials and the importance of recovery is something to which he has become accustom. Having the opportunity to race as an open weight has its benefits for the veteran athlete.

“It’s nice for me, since I’m a former lightweight,” said Daly. “I get to eat a lot more, so that’s definitely part of my plan tonight.”

Daly finished 11th in the lightweight four at the 2008 Olympic Games and was a spare at the 2012 Olympics. But, having the opportunity to represent his country one more time -- this time in the men's pair -- is something that Daly is hoping to accomplish.

“For me, it would be kind of a culmination of all my years rowing on the national team and all the work I've put in. It would be hard to describe how special that would be,” he said.

After finishing second in his semifinal on Tuesday, Daly will have that chance in tomorrow's final at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials II - Rowing on Mercer Lake. Wednesday morning's results will determine which crew will represent the U.S. at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in the men’s pair event, pending USOC approval.

In the first semifinal, Vesper Boat Club’s Tom Peszek (Farmington Hills, Mich.) and Yohann Rigogne (Besançon, France) advanced to the final in a time of 6:27.24. Finishing roughly three seconds behind the Vesper crew, USRowing Training Center Princeton's crew of Daly and Tom Dethlefs (Lawrenceville, N.J.) clocked a 6:30.36 to also advance.

“It’ll be a burner in the finals tomorrow,” said Dethlefs. “We are looking forward to racing everybody and hopefully going to Rio. Representing your country at the Olympic Games is a huge honor and everybody here is a really competitive racer. To come out on top of the field, to be able to represent the U.S., would be very exciting and definitely a great honor for us.”

Nareg Guregian (North Hills, Calif.) and Anders Weiss (Barrington, R.I.) of USRowing Training Center Princeton posted the fastest time of the morning, crossing the finish line in 6:25.96 in the second semifinal. Training center teammates Mike Gennaro (Havertown, Pa.) and Dariush Aghai (Skokie, Ill.) secured the last spot to the finals with a time of 6:27.19.

"Our goal was to qualify for the final,” said Guregian. “That was our first goal, and we're happy that we did that. We have to win tomorrow. Even though today is just the semifinal and we know that anything can happen tomorrow, we just wanted to set the tone for tomorrow and try to row well again."

The final is scheduled for Wednesday, June 22, at 8:00 a.m. EST. For full event information, click here. For results go here.